From the author of Saint X, a New York Times Editor’s Choice Pick: Hailed as “Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ meets Margaret Atwood,” Elsewhere is a speculative rumination on the mysterious task of motherhood and the myriad of ways in which a woman can lose herself to it: the self-monitoring and judgment, the doubts and unknowns, and the legacy she leaves behind.
Recommended by Entertainment Weekly, named “Best New Books of 2022” by Harper’s Bazaar, and featured in “Best of June” lists by The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Bustle, and Glamour.
Join Alexis Schaitkin on tour as she discusses her highly anticipated second novel, Elsewhere, which follows the mysterious comings and goings in a strange and isolated town, cut off from the rest of the world and burdened with a singular affliction: girls become wives, wives become mothers and some of them, quite simply, disappear.
Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. This town, fiercely protective, brutal and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives; it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning.
Vera, a young girl when her own mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Reveling in their gossip, they witness each other in motherhood, waiting for signs: this one devotes herself to her child too much, this one not enough—that must surely draw the affliction’s gaze. When motherhood comes for Vera, she is faced with the question: will she be able to stay and mother her beloved child, or will she disappear?
EVENT LOCATIONS AND TIMES
BOOK PASSAGE
In conversation with Clare Beams
***THIS IS A VIRTUAL EVENT***
Date: Thursday, June 29
Williams College Bookstore
Williamstown, MA
Date: Thursday, July 7
Time: 4:30 PM ET
RSVP: event.williams.edu
Brookline Booksmith
In Conversation with Nina MacLaughlin
Brookline, MA
Date: Tuesday, July 12
Time: 7:00 PM ET
RSVP & Tickets: eventbrite.com
Becket Athenaeum
In conversation with Lara Tupper
Becket, MA
Date: Tuesday, July 26
Time: 6:00 PM ET
RSVP: becketathenaeum.org
Northshire Bookstore
Manchester, VT
Date: Friday, August 5
Time: 6:00 PM ET
Information: northshire.com
Chatham Bookstore
In conversation with Erin Kate Ryan
Madison, NJ
Date: Saturday, August 13
Salem Literary Festival at the Salem Athenaeum
In conversation with Jessamine Chan, Moderated by Ashley Audrain
Salem, MA
Date: Sunday, September 11
Charlottesville Reading Series at New Dominion Bookshop
In conversation with Amber McBride
Charlottesville, VA
Date: Saturday, November 19